Debate this: USU Democrats respond to #blacklivesmatter

There is a problem with law enforcement in the United States. The criminal justice system is flawed, and we must find a way to fix it. Currently, the United States makes up 5% of the world’s total population, but has 25% of the world’s incarcerated population. We have had a lot of racial tension in the past few years between law enforcement and citizens. A movement called “Black Lives Matter (BLM)” has brought attention to racial profiling, discrimination, and the police brutality of law enforcement towards African-Americans and other minorities.  

Obviously it is important to show respect to law enforcement, and to follow the law. However, police in certain areas are enforcing laws unfairly, and using extreme and unnecessary force. In the U.S., whites are using illegal drugs more that blacks, yet blacks are arrested for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of whites. African-Americans make 12% of the total drug-using population, yet make up 38% of those imprisoned for drug use, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense.  

It does not stop with drug offenses. Even as young children, black children are unfairly punished. 35% of blacks age 7-12 have been suspended at some point, compared to 20% of Hispanics and 15% of whites. As adults, blacks make up about 1 million of the 2.3 million people imprisoned in this country, and they incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. These statistics show exactly how blacks are disproportionately punished and arrested in the U.S.

There are many reasons for these statistics. Much of it also has to do with the so-called war on drugs and other social and economic factors (another discussion entirely). But these numbers are so egregious, it is clear it is that racial profiling in this country by police is rampant. The most relevant study addressing this issue comes from “An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force, Roland G. Fryer, JR.” from Harvard University.   After spending 3,000 hours assembling detailed data from police reports in Houston; Austin, Tex.; Dallas; Los Angeles; Orlando, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and four other counties in Florida, it was concluded among other findings that, on non-lethal uses of force, blacks and Hispanics are more than fifty percent more likely to experience some form of force in interactions with police.

This is completely unacceptable, and shows the systemic racism that is still alive in this country. Black Lives Matter is giving a much needed voice to these injustices.  When a black man is choked to death on a New York City street corner for selling loose cigarettes, but a white man who shoots and kills dozens of people in a movie theatre is taken alive, there is a problem. Let us not be afraid to be speak out against injustice, and ensure that black lives do matter. Let us stop the fear mongering and do our best to understand the underlying issues how to resolve this complex issue.

— Samuel Jackson